Roquette, a La Madeleine, France-based provider of excipients and food ingredients, has agreed to acquire Itacel, the excipient business of Blanver, a Brazilian pharmaceutical manufacturer. 

Itacel is based in Itapevi, Brazil, near São Paulo and offers a range of products (binders, fillers, disintegrants), including cellulose expertise, and has more 300 employees.The acquisition includes a manufacturing plant and research and development laboratory facilities.

Blanver decided to divest its excipients business to focus on the expansion of its two other divisions: medicines and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The company has two other manufacturing sites, one in Taboão da Serra, where medicines are produced, and the other one in Indaiatuba, where the API plant is located, each in the vicinity of São Paulo.

The closing of the acquisition of Itacel is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2017. The closing remains subject to the fulfillment of some customary conditions and, until then, Itacel (Blanver´s excipients division) remains 100% owned and managed by the existing shareholders.

Source: Roquette